A HALF CENTURY OF THE WRITING OF HISTORY
IN OHIO
By FRANCIS
P. WEISENBURGER
Slightly more than a century ago Mrs.
Frances Trollope
returned to her home in England after
two years of residence in
Cincinnati. Thereupon she published her Domestic
Manners of
the Americans,l a somewhat ironical commentary upon life in
the United States. Thus she became one
of the earliest represen-
tatives of a ubiquitous tribe of
Europeans that from time to time
has contrasted the culture of Europe
with that of America and
has found the latter wanting--or perhaps
non-existent. She
pointed to the crudities of the
Americans--their boastfulness,
their lack of refinement, and their
emphasis upon material values.
After dealing specifically with the
situation in Cincinnati she
generalized as to the taste for
intellectual fare in America as a
whole:
In truth there are many reasons which
render a very general diffusion
of literature impossible in America. I
can scarcely class the universal read-
ing of newspapers as an exception to
this remark; if I could, my statement
would be exactly the reverse, and I
should say that America beat the world
in letters. The fact is, that throughout
all ranks of society, from the
successful merchant, which is the highest,
to the domestic serving man,
which is the lowest, they are all too
actively employed to read, except at
such broken intervals as may suffice for
a peep at a newspaper.2
Mrs. Trollope's business failure in
Cincinnati may have con-
tributed a note of vindictiveness to her
impressions of the Ameri-
can scene, but no candid student of the
period would now find
reason to challenge the essential truth
in much that she said. The
careful observer of social tendencies
must of course often experi-
ence a feeling of stark amazement at the
glib generalizations that
are frequently formulated concerning a
people so complex as the
American. In a crude and materialistic
generation there have
always been individuals who have
thirsted for more beautiful,
1 Mrs. Frances Trollope, Domestic
Manners of the Americans (London, 1832), 2v.
2 Ibid.,
I, 128.
(326)
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 327
more rational, and more ethical
expressions of life. But the
American of the pioneer period was
necessarily preoccupied with
the hard task of winning a mastery over
nature and a minimum
economic security for his family and
himself. Incidentally the
material basis was being established
that would be capable of sus-
taining a more mature civilization.
In the United States of a century ago
the older established
communities--generally east of the
Appalachians--had already
begun to feel the beginnings of
substantial literary and historical
endeavors. No part of the region west of
the Alleghenies, how-
ever, was much removed from the pioneer
stage. A few interested
citizens of such a relatively old and
prosperous community as
Cincinnati had established the Ohio
Historical and Philosophical
Society (in 1831). On the other
hand, Ohio's first historian of
the statehood period, Caleb Atwater, who
published his History of
the State of Ohio at Cincinnati in 1838, was an unsuccessful Cir-
cleville lawyer and politician. He
seemed to contemporaries "like
a disappointed, unhappy man" whose
writings "were but a meagre
source of support."3 Eccentrics
might write history, but there
was not an interested public
sufficiently large to give much con-
sideration to their efforts.
A half century was to elapse before Ohio
was to support a
permanent State society devoted to the
interests of archaeology
and history. In a sense the State was
following a trend of the
nation as a whole in this expanding
interest in things historical.
In September, 1884, the American
Historical Association was
founded at Saratoga, New York, and on
Lincoln Day of the next
year preliminary steps were taken for
the establishment of the
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical
Society. The organiza-
tion meeting was held in Columbus on
March 12, 1885, and ex-
Senator Allen Granberry Thurman became
the first president by
action of the Board of Trustees taken on
the following day.4
This occurred in a period when
historiography in the United
States was indeed "between two
worlds." Behind were the tra-
3 Henry Howe, Historical Collections
of Ohio (Cincinnati, 1908), II, 417.
4 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society Quarterly (Columbus, Ohio,
1887-), I (1887), 83-96.
328
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ditions of eulogistic praise and special
pleading; ahead were the
more difficult efforts of reconstructing
the past in a spirit of cool
impartiality and aloof detachment. At
that time less than twenty
colleges in the country had professors
of history, and school
teachers did not prepare themselves by
special courses in order to
give instruction in the subject.5 The
graduate schools of the
nation were only beginning to adopt the
careful, critical methods
used in German universities. Hence, it
is not surprising that, as
Tyler Dennett (now president of Williams
College) has pointed
out, two of the best known contributions
to American history in
the years from 1885 to 1905 came from
three men each of whom
was really a thorough-going amateur. It
is significant for the pur-
poses of the present discussion that of
these three (John George
Nicolay, John Hay, and James Ford
Rhodes), the latter two in
1885 were residents of Ohio (Cleveland).
Hay moved to Wash-
ington early in 1886, several years
before the publication of the
monumental, though somewhat biased
biography of the great
Civil War President.6 Yet his
most unremitting efforts at this
task coincided approximately with the
last year and a half of his
residence in Cleveland.7
Rhodes, the other Ohio historian
mentioned, was a wealthy
business man of Cleveland who had
retired from active participa-
tion in industrial and financial affairs
to devote himself to the
first of the series of volumes to be
known as the History of the
United States from the Compromise of
1850.8 Rhodes knew well
that a writer of books walking down the
streets of Cleveland
would be stared at as a rather
"remarkable personage."9 In that
city, nevertheless, he found a kindred
spirit, a sympathetic adviser,
who was moreover an expert in the field
of history into which
Rhodes as an amateur was venturing. This
counsellor was Ed-
ward Gaylord Bourne, whose writings
particularly in the field of
5 John Franklin Jameson, "Early Days of the American
Historical Association,
1884-1895," in American
Historical Review (New York, 1895-), XL (1934-35), 1-8.
6 John George Nicolay and John Hay, Abraham
Lincoln: A History (New York,
1890), 10v.
7 Tyler Dennett, John Hay: From
Poetry to Politics (New York, 1933), 136,
144, 138.
8 James Ford Rhodes, History of the
United States from the Compromise of 1850
(New York, 1892-1919), 8v.
9 Mark Antony De Wolfe Howe, James Ford Rhodes (New York, 1929),
45.
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 329
Latin-American history were later to be
nationally recognized as
authoritative.10 He was at
the time (in fact, from 1888 to 1895)
a member of the faculty of Adelbert
College (now part of West-
ern Reserve University), Cleveland.
Rhodes and Bourne dined
at the home of the former once or twice
a month, and the
acquaintance ripened into friendship.
Bourne was employed to
spend part of his vacation during the
summer of 1889 in collecting
notes for the work and he assisted
materially in the revision of
the early drafts of Rhodes' first three
volumes.11 In November,
1891, Rhodes submitted the manuscript of the first two
volumes
to Harper and Brothers, and in the same
year removed from
Cleveland to Cambridge, Massachusetts.
Yet the volumes pro-
duced during his residence in Ohio are
among his best, for, as a
recent writer has said, the first five
volumes are on practically
the same definitive scale, but the last
two betray some eagerness
for the conclusion of an ambitious
effort.12
Scholars who were dedicating themselves
to the Muse of His-
tory during this period had a marked
tendency to leave Ohio. A
primary reason was that remunerative
positions in the State were
relatively few. This was true in the
case of Burke Aaron Hins-
dale who had served from 1870 to 1882 as president of Hiram
College and from 1882 to 1886 as
superintendent of the Cleve-
land public schools. Upon his retirement
from the latter posi-
tion he devoted himself to historical
writing. His Old Northwest
(New York, 1888), a history of the area
bounded by Pennsyl-
vania on the east, the Ohio River on the
south, the Mississippi
River on the west, and the Great Lakes
on the north, was a
praiseworthy accomplishment. In the same
year of its publica-
tion, however, he received an
appointment to the faculty of the
University of Michigan and removed to
Ann Arbor.13
In this year also a young man was
finishing his college course
at Oberlin and receiving in Ohio
opportunities and inspiration that
10 Especially his Spain in America, volume
three of his The American Nation:
A History (New York, 1906), 26v.
11 James Ford Rhodes, Historical
Essays (New York, 1909), 197.
12 Dumas Malone "Rhodes, James
Ford," in Dictionary of American Biography
(New York, 1928-), XV, 532.
13 Harold E. Davis, "Burke Aaron Hinsdale," in
Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society Quarterly, XLI
(1932), 241-83.
330 OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
later were to find expression in
historical achievements of genuine
merit. This college senior of 1887-1888,
John Rogers Commons
was to become one of the foremost
historians of the American
labor movement. As he recalls in his
autobiography, during his
career at Oberlin he cooperated with
other students in establish-
ing a Henry George Club as a means of
discussing the single tax.
Their "dear" Professor James
Monroe was tolerant of their
"youthful doctrinism," and he
later induced two trustees of
Oberlin College to lend Commons the
money necessary for fur-
ther education at Johns Hopkins.14
If, as the Jesuits have taught for
centuries and as more novel
education theorists have since
advocated, the early years of life
are a definite determinant in the
formation of character, another
leading historiographer of the period
owes his scholarly interests
to his birth and childhood in another
Ohio college town. Hubert
Howe Bancroft, born in Granville,
Licking County, who went to
California at the age of twenty, was the
directing force in the pre-
paration of a monumental history of the
Pacific coast region,
covering twenty-eight volumes, exclusive
of others in related
series.15 Perhaps less widely
known was William Milligan
Sloane, born at Richmond, Ohio, in 1850,
who served as a profes-
sor at Princeton for many years and
gained distinction as a his-
torical writer. It is interesting to
note that the first article in the
initial number of the American
Historical Review was from his
pen.16
During the period from 1885 to 1915
those professional
scholars in the field of history who
continued to be associated
with Ohio educational institutions were
apt to be overburdened
with teaching and administrative duties.
As a result there was
often little time for creative
scholarship that finds expression in
research and historical writing. Thus
George Wells Knight who
appeared on the first program of the
American Historical Asso-
ciation at Saratoga in 1884 with a paper
on federal land grants
for education in the United States was
later relatively unpro-
14 John Rogers Commons, Myself (New York, 1934),
38-41.
15 Among these are his History of
California (San Francisco, 1884-1890), 7v.
16 William Milligan Sloane,
"History and Democracy," in American Historical
Review, I (1895-96), 1-23.
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 331
ductive as a writer of history. Joining
the faculty of the Ohio
State University in 1885, he served
conspicuously, however, as
an able administrator, an effective
teacher, and as a counsellor to
hundreds of students.
Other teachers in Ohio, moreover, were
so handicapped for
money and materials needed for serious
endeavors that the strug-
gle was an almost impossible one.
Professor Wilbur Henry Sie-
bert of the Ohio State University
recalls one scholarly young in-
structor with a verve for research,
Sidney Short, who in the years
before large Ohio libraries and
inter-library loans would pur-
chase books needed for his work and then
re-sell them after they
had performed their service. More than
one earnest soul realized
full well the compelling truth inherent
in Carl Schurz's remark
to a young man interested in
historiography as a life work that it
was "an aristocratic
profession." An opulent business man such
as Rhodes in his mature years might turn
to history as a means
of expressing his conspicuous abilities.
Even John Hay, how-
ever, could scarcely have indulged
himself as a writer of historical
biography if love and fortune had not
pointed in the same direc-
tion in his marriage to the daughter of
the wealthy Amasa Stone
of Cleveland. Most Ohio college and
university professors had
neither inherited nor married a fortune
and were forced to re-
linquish any youthful hopes of
authorship as an important part
of their careers. And, as a matter of
fact, they were not expected
generally by college presidents and
boards of trustees to devote
much concern to such prospects.
Teaching, it appeared, was the
vocation to which they were called!
Only a small minority of Americans (and
Ohioans were a
part of the whole), moreover, were
interested in specialized works
of history such as our graduate schools
have turned out in more
recent years. They were much more
interested in writings like
the chatty chronicles of Henry Howe who
had traveled through
Ohio in 1846 and 1847, gathering all
sorts of data and recording
the recollections of pioneer citizens.
In the latter year he had
published his first Historical
Collections of Ohio, then in three
volumes, and in 1885 had returned to the
State to bring the
332
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
series up to date. The cost of the
publication of the new work,
however, exhausted his private
resources, and it was only after
his death in 1893 that the Ohio
Legislature appropriated $20,000
for the purchase of the plates and
copyright and distributed the
volumes to citizens through their State
representatives.
Such a person as Philip Van Ness Myers,
long associated
with the University of Cincinnati might
publish and profit by the
extensive sale of textbooks such as his Outlines
of Medieval and
Modern History (Boston, 1898), Rome, Its Rise and Fall (Bos-
ton, 1900), History of Greece (Boston,
1895), but such ambitions
and opportunities did not come to many.
During the period since 1887 the Ohio
State Archaeological
and Historical Society has regularly
issued publications (chiefly
the QUARTERLY),
thus rendering valuable service in
fostering an
interest in Ohio's history among the
people of the State. Many
of the articles by archaeological
experts such as William Corless
Mills, Gerard Fowke, Warren King
Moorehead, Henry Clyde
Shetrone, and Emerson Frank Greenman
have explained the pre-
historic culture of the mound-builder.
Other contributions were
written by persons whose special
knowledge of the localities and
periods involved gave unusual interest
and value to their con-
tributions. In some cases data relating
to pioneer life have been
preserved that otherwise might have been
lost. In many in-
stances, moreover, problems of Ohio
history have been attacked
that would have been too local in their
significance to claim much
of the time of the professional
historian. Yet these productions
have added materially to the sum total
of our knowledge of the
history of Ohio, and therefore of the
larger America. In this
connection the numerous articles by
Emilius Oviatt Randall,
Daniel Joseph Ryan, and Charles Burleigh
Galbreath, each long
associated with the Society, may be
mentioned. Contributions of
William Henry Hunter of Chillicothe such
as "The Influence of
Pennsylvania on Ohio" and "The
Pathfinders of Jefferson
County,"17 give one a better understanding of the early history
of eastern Ohio. Frazer Ells Wilson has
delved into problems
17 Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society Quarterly, XII (1903), 287-
309; VIII (1889), 132-263.
WRITING OF HISTORY IN
OHIO 333
related to the vicinity
of Greenville in such contributions as "St.
Clair's Defeat"18
and "The Treaty of Greenville."19 Helen
Mary Carpenter of
Norwalk has written authoritatively of her
own locality in
"The Origin and Location of the Firelands of the
Western Reserve."20
Clement L. Martzolff, who was for many
years associated with
Ohio University at Athens, contributed
articles especially
valuable in relation to the development of south
central Ohio, such as
"Zane's Trace," "Ohio University," and
"Early Religious
Movements in the Muskingum Valley,"21
Such special studies as
that by Charles Clifford Huntington, of
the Geography
Department of the Ohio State University, "A
History of Banking and
Currency in Ohio before the Civil
War"22 and
that of Edward Alanson Miller, long associated with
Oberlin College
(1900-1931), "History of Educational Legisla-
tion in Ohio from 1803
to 1850,"23 must always be consulted for
an understanding of
those subjects. Huntington also wrote (with
C. P. McClelland) a History
of Ohio Canals (Columbus, Ohio,
1905), published by the
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical
Society.
These monographs
illustrate another service rendered by the
last-mentioned
organization. For many years its publications have
been an avenue of
encouragement to scholars (especially in Ohio)
who have been starting
along the road of historical research.
Forty years ago the
Society's QUARTERLY contained an article by
Siebert, "The
Underground Railroad in Ohio,"24 before he had
become the established
authority in the United States on the
subject of the
underground railroad. The Society also issued the
first significant
article of Archer Butler Hulbert,25 a graduate of
Marietta College, who
served as professor at that institution
(1904-1918) and who
later not only edited the valuable records
of the Ohio Company but
established himself as a leading writer
18 Ibid., XI (1902), 34-43.
19 Ibid., XII (1903),
128-59.
20 Ibid., XLIV
(1935), 163-203.
21 Ibid., XIII (1904), 297-331; XIX (1910), 411-45; XXV (1916),
183-90.
22 Ibid., XXIV (1915), 235-540.
23 Ibid., XXVII (1918), 1-271.
24 Ibid., IV (1892), 44-63.
25 Archer Butler Hulbert, "Indian
Thoroughfares of Ohio," ibid., VIII (1889),
264-95.
334
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
on western American history. It opened
its pages to one of the
first productions of Wallace Notestein,
a son of a Wooster Col-
lege professor and a graduate of that
institution who has since
acquired a national reputation in the
field of English history.26
The article by Isaac Joslin Cox,
"The Indian as a Diplomatic
Factor in the History of the Old
Northwest,"27 indicated
the
early trend of interest of one now well
known in the field of
diplomatic history. Reginald Charles
McGrane's interest in the
history of the Middle West was early
shown by an article, "The
Evolution of the Ohio-Erie
Boundary."28 Homer Carey Hock-
ett's special field of western history
was indicated in his "Internal
Improvements, 1815-25."29 Carl
Frederick Wittke's abilities as
a historian of the immigrant groups in
American life were sug-
gested in two articles "Ohio's
German-language Press and the
Peace Negotiations" and
"Ohio's German-language Press and
the War."30
Professor Eugene Holloway Roseboom of
the History De-
partment of the Ohio State University
while a graduate student
contributed a valuable article, his
master's thesis, "The Presi-
dential Election of 1824 in
Ohio."31 An early
production by
Arthur Meier Schlesinger, now professor
of history at Harvard
University, related to the youthful life
of Salmon Portland
Chase.32 Professor Francis Robert Aumann of the Political
Science Department of the Ohio State
University contributed
"The Development of the Judicial
System of Ohio."33 Roscoe
Huhn Eckelberry of the College of
Education, Ohio State Uni-
versity, wrote in the field of his
specialty, "An Early Proposal for
a State Polytechnic School" and
"The McNeely Normal School
and Hopedale Normal College."34
Benjamin Harrison Pershing
of Wittenberg College is the author of a
biography of Winthrop
Sargent, secretary of the Northwest
Territory, and of an article
26 Ibid., XVI (1907), 269-91.
27 Ibid., XVIII
(1909), 542-65.
28 Ibid., XXII
(1913), 326-29.
29 Ibid., XXV (1916), 140-45.
30 Ibid., XXIX (1920), 49-79; XXVIII (1919), 82-95.
31 Ibid., XXVI (1917), 153-224.
32 Ibid. XXVIII (1919), 119-61.
33 Ibid., XLI (1932), 195-236.
34 Ibid., XXXIX (1930), 400-10; XL (1931), 86-136.
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 335
on "Membership in the General
Assembly of Ohio."35 Harold
Eugene Davis of Hiram College dealt in
painstaking fashion with
the life of Hinsdale,36 and
with "Religion on the Western Reserve,
1800-1825."37 Francis Phelps
Weisenburger wrote a rather full
account of the "Life of Charles
Hammond, First Great Journalist
of the Old Northwest."38
Graduate students at Ohio State
University and other Ohio
institutions have also offered the
Society the results of their care-
ful research. Among these may be
mentioned: Forrest William
Clonts, "The Political Campaign of
1875 in Ohio;"39 Edgar
Allan Holt, now dean of the University
of Omaha, "Party
Politics in Ohio, 1840-50;"40 Erwin
Hugh Price, "The Election
of 1848 in Ohio;"41 Elizabeth F. Yager, "The Presidential Cam-
paign of 1864 in Ohio."42 Professor
Ruhl Jacob Bartlett, now
chairman of the Department of History,
Tufts College, Massa-
chusetts, as a graduate student at the
Ohio State University con-
tributed "The Struggle for
Statehood in Ohio,"43 and Randolph
Chandler Downes now of the Western
Pennsylvania Historical
Society submitted the results of some of
his researches. Among
his productions while in Ohio were
"Thomas Jefferson and the
Removal of Governor St. Clair in 1802"44 and "The Evolution
of County Boundaries."45
Other organizations besides the
Archaeological and Historical
Society have also materially assisted in
making available to the
reader the results of the researches of
Ohioans. The Publications
(1906-) of the Ohio Historical and Philosophical Society at
Cin-
cinnati have made available in printed
form various valuable col-
lections of letters and other manuscript
material. An example
is the publication (1934) of the
autobiography and Civil War
letters of Colonel A. W. Gilbert,
Citizen-Soldier of Cincinnati,
35 Ibid., XXXV (1926), 583-602; XL (1931), 222-83.
36 Ibid., XLI
(1932), 241-83.
37 Ibid., XXXVIII
(1929), 475-201.
38 Ibid., XLIII (1934), 340-427.
39 Ibid., XXXI (1922), 38-97.
40 Ibid., XXXVII (1928), 439-591; XXXVIII (1929), 47-182; 260-402.
41 Ibid., XXXVI
(1927), 188-311.
42 Ibid., XXXIV (1925), 548-89.
43 Ibid., XXXII (1923), 472-503.
44 Ibid., XXXVI (1927), 62-77.
45 Ibid., XXXVI (1927), 340-477.
336
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
edited by William Ernest and Ophia D.
Smith. The "Old North-
west" Genealogical Quarterly, published at Columbus, Ohio,
(1898-1912), consists of fifteen volumes
relating chiefly to Ohio.
Included in this were the autobiography
and letters of Allen
Trimble, governor of Ohio (1822-1826),
and a biography of
Jeremiah Morrow, representative, United
States Senator and Ohio
governor, by his grandson, Josiah
Morrow. At Norwalk, Ohio,
the publication of the Firelands
Pioneer (1858-) by the Firelands
Historical Society preserved material
valuable for a study of the
history of that area. The Western
Reserve Historical Society
Tracts (Cleveland, 1870-) have included some valuable studies.
Colonel Charles Whittlesey contributed
an article to number 66
(1886), "Col. Bradstreet's
Misfortunes on Lake Erie in 1764;"
Elbert Jay Benton, who has been
associated with Western Re-
serve University since 1903, wrote the
introduction to material
on "Northern Ohio during the War of
1812" in number 92
(1913); William Cox Cochran presented an
article on "The
Western Reserve and the Fugitive Slave
Law" in number 101
(1920); and Benton contributed an excellent account of
"The
Movement for Peace without Victory
during the Civil War" to
number 99 (1918). Other tracts of the
society have contained
such documentary material as the
"Papers of the Connecticut
Land Company," Tract number 96
(1916), and letters of Samuel
Huntington, early Ohio governor, Tract number
95 (1915).
Ohioans have been frequent contributors
to the various na-
tionally-known historical journals.
Thus, among the articles in
the American Historical Review are:
Wilbur Henry Siebert,
"Light on the Underground
Railroad," I (1895-96), 455-63;
Henry Eldridge Bourne (who joined the
staff of Western Reserve
University in 1892 and who is now the
managing editor of the
American Historical Review), "Municipal Politics in Paris in
1789," XI (1905-06), 263-86;
"American Constitutional Prece-
dents in the French National
Assembly," VIII (1902-03), 466-
90, and "Improvising a Government
in Paris in July, 1789," X
(1904-05), 280-308; Clarence Perkins
(who was a member of the
Department of History of the Ohio State
University from 1909
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 337
to 1920 and who is now at the
University of North Dakota),
"The Wealth of the Knight Templars
in England and the Dis-
position of It after Their
Dissolution," XV (1909-10), 252-63;
Isaac Joslin Cox (who was a member of
the faculty of the Uni-
versity of Cincinnati from 1904 to 1919
and who is now at
Northwestern University), "The
American Intervention in West
Florida," XVII (1911-12), 290-311,
and "General Wilkinson and
His Later Intrigues with the
Spaniards," XIX (1913-14), 794-
812; John R. Knipfing (of the Department
of European History
at the Ohio State University, 1917-1925), "German
Historians
and Macedonian Imperialism," XXVI (1920-21), 657-71.
Ken-
neth Scott Latourette (professor at
Denison University, 1916-
1921, and now at Yale), "Chinese
Historical Studies during the
Past Seven Years," XXVI (1920-21), 703-16; Clarence Edwin
Carter (who joined the staff of Miami
University in 1910), "The
Significance of the Military Office in
America, 1763-1775,"
XXVIII (1922-23), 475-88; Albert Tangeman
Volwiler
(of
Wittenberg, and now of Ohio University),
"Tariff Strategy and
Propaganda in the United States,
1887-1888," XXXVI (1930-
31), 76-96; Arthur Charles Cole (for ten
years professor at the
Ohio State University, and now of
Western Reserve University),
"Lincoln's Election an Immediate
Menace to Slavery in the
States?" XXXVI (1930-31),
740-67; Reginald Charles McGrane
(on the faculty of the University of
Cincinnati since 1915),
"Some Aspects of American State
Debts in the Forties,"
XXXVIII (1932-33), 673-86, and Helen
Robbins Bittermann (of
Columbus, Ohio), "The Influence of
Irish Monks on Merovin-
gian Diocesan Organization," XL
(1934-35), 232-45.
To the Mississippi Valley Historical
Review (Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, 1914-) (which since 1930 has been edited
at Cleveland by
Cole, assisted by Bertha Esther
Josephson, a graduate of the
Ohio State University), Ohioans have
contributed many articles.
For the earlier Proceedings (Cedar
Rapids, Iowa, 1907-) of the
Mississippi Valley Historical
Association Henry Noble Sherwood
of Cincinnati wrote, "The
Settlement of the John Randolph Slaves
in Ohio," V (1911-12), 35-59; Karl
Frederick Geiser, professor
338
OHIO ARCHEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
at Oberlin College, "The Western
Reserve in the Anti-slavery
Movement, 1840-1860," V (1911-12),
73-98, and "New England
and the Western Reserve," VI (1912-13), 62-78;
Cox, then of the
University of Cincinnati, "The New
Invasion of the Goths and
Vandals," VIII (1914-15), 176-200;
Siebert, "The Loyalists in
West Florida and the Natchez
District," VIII (1914-15), 102-22;
McGrane of the University of Cincinnati,
"The Veto Power in
Ohio," IX (1915-18), 177-89;
Cochran of Cincinnati, "Perils of
River Navigation in the Sixties,"
X (1918-21), 318-33; Ellis
Merton Coulter, then of Marietta
College, "Elijah Clarke's For-
eign Intrigues and the Trans-Oconee
Republic," X (1918-21),
260-79; Arthur Henry Hirsch, who joined the staff of Ohio
Wesleyan University in 1919, "The
Construction of the Miami
and Erie Canal," X (1918-21), 349-62; and Wittke, "Ohio's
German-language Press in the Campaign of
1920," X (1918-21),
468-80.
Among the articles in the Review itself
are the following by
Ohioans:
Beverley Waugh Bond, Jr. (on the faculty
of the University
of Cincinnati since 1920), "Two Westward Journeys of John
Filson," IX (1922-23), 320-30;
(ed.), "Captivity of Charles
Stewart," XIII (1926-27), 58;
"American Experiment in Co-
lonial
Government," XV (1928-29), 221-35; "American Civili-
zation Comes to the Old Northwest"
(being the presidential
address of Mississippi Valley Historical
Association, 1932), XIX
(1932-33), 3-29.
Clarence Edwin Carter, "Some Aspects
of British Adminis-
tration in West Florida," IV
(1917-18), 314-41; "Notes on Gage
MSS.," XV (1928-29), 511-19.
Clayton Sumner Ellsworth (of the College
of Wooster),
"Ohio's Legislative Attack upon
Abolition Schools," XXI (1934-
35), 379-86.
Robert Stillman Fletcher (of Oberlin
College), "The End
of the Open Range in Eastern
Montana," XVI (1929-30), 188-
211,
and "The Government of the
Oberlin Colony," XX (1933-
34), 179-90.
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 339
Arthur Henry Hirsch, "Effort of the
Grange to Control the
Price of Farm Machinery," XV
(1928-29), 473-96.
Homer Carey Hockett (of the Ohio State
University), "The
Influence of the West on Political
Parties," IV (1917-18), 459-
569; "The Literary Movement in
Writing History," XII (1925-
26), 469-82; and "Little Essays on
the Police Power," (being
the presidential address of Mississippi
Valley Historical Asso-
ciation, 1930), XVII (1930-31), 3-23.
Geraldine Hopkins (of Oberlin College)
(ed.) "A Rare
Abolitionist Document," XVIII
(1931-32), 60-64.
George Frederick Howe (of the University
of Cincinnati),
"The New York Custom House
Controversy," XVIII (1931-
32), 350-63.
Henry Clyde Hubbart (of Ohio Wesleyan
University),
"'Pro-Southern' Influences in the
Free West, 1840-1865," XX
(1933-34), 45-62.
Archer Butler Hulbert (while at Marietta
College), "Meth-
ods and Operations of Scioto Group of
Speculators," I (1914-15),
502-15.
Reginald Charles McGrane (ed.),
"William Clark's Journal
of Wayne's Campaign," I (1914-15),
418-44; "Ohio and the
Greenback Movement," XI (1924-25), 526-42.
Wilbur Henry Siebert, "Dispersion
of the American To-
ries," I (1914-15), 185-97;
"Loyalists in West Florida and the
Natchez District," II (1915-16),
465-83; "Kentucky's Struggle
with Its Loyalist Proprietors," VII
(1920-21), 113-26.
William Ernest Smith (of Miami
University), "Francis P.
Blair, Pen-Executive of Andrew
Jackson," XVII (1930-31),
543-56.
William Thomas Utter, of Denison
University, contributed
three articles to the Review while
residing outside of Ohio, but
much of the work upon them was done when
an instructor at
the Ohio State University.
Albert Tangeman Volwiler (ed.),
"William Trent's Jour-
nal," XI (1924-25), 390-413;
(ed.),
"Letters from a Civil War
Officer," XIV (1927-28), 508-29.
340
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Francis Phelps Weisenburger (of the Ohio
State Univer-
sity), "John McLean,
Postmaster-General," XVIII (1931-32),
23-33; "The Time of Mark Hanna's
First Acquaintance with
McKinley," XXI (1934-35), 78-81.
Among other learned publications of note
is the Journal of
Modern History (Chicago, 1929-), to which Frederick Binkerd
Artz of Oberlin College contributed
"The Electoral System in
France during the Bourbon Restoration,
1815-30," I (1929),
205-18. In the Canadian Historical
Review (Toronto, 1920-),
Wittke, of the Department of History at
Ohio State University,
published "Canadian Refugees in the
American Revolution,"
III (1922), 320-33, and one of his former
students, Dr.
William Daniel Overman, now curator of
history at the Ohio
State Archaeological and Historical
Society, presented, "I. D.
Andrews and Reciprocity in 1854: an
Episode in Dollar Diplo-
macy," XV (1934), 248-63. To the Hispanic
American Histori-
cal Review (Baltimore, Maryland,
1918-), Lawrence Francis
Hill of the Ohio State University
contributed, "Confederate
Exiles to Brazil," VII (1927), 192-210, and the
"Abolition of
the African Slave Trade to Brazil,"
XI (1931), 169-97.
To the Proceedings (Worcester, Massachusetts,
1843-) of
the American Antiquarian Society,
Siebert has contributed a
number of significant articles on the
Loyalists: "East Florida as
a Refuge of Southern Loyalists,
1774-1785," new Series,
XXXVII (1927), 222-46, and "George Washington and the
Loyalists," new Series, XLIII (1933), 34-48. To
the Proceed-
ings (Boston, 1859-) of the Massachusetts Historical Society
he
contributed "The Colony of
Massachusetts Loyalists at Bristol,
England" (1912). In the Transactions
(Ottawa, 1883-) of the
Royal Society of Canada, he (with
Florence Edna Gilliam) pre-
sented "Loyalists in Prince Edward
Island," third Series, IV
(1910), 190-217; "The Loyalist Settlements on the Gaspe Penin-
sula," VIII (1914), 399-405;
"The Temporary Settlements of
Loyalists at Machiche, P. Q.," VIII
(1914), 407-14; "The Loy-
alists and the Six Nation Indians,"
IX (1915), 79-128; "The
Refugee Loyalists of Connecticut,"
X (1916), 72-92.
WRITING OF HISTORY IN
OHIO 341
Siebert has also contributed
"Slavery and White Servitude
in East Florida, 1726-1776," to the
Quarterly Periodical (Talla-
hassee, 1908-) of the Florida Historical
Society, X (1931-32),
3-23; "Spanish and French
Privateering in Southern Waters,
July 1762 to March 1763," to the Georgia
Historical Quarterly
(Savannah, 1917-), XVI (1932), and
"Loyalist Troops of New
England" to the New England
Quarterly, IV (1931), 108-47.
Some articles of value were also printed
in the Ohio History
Teachers' Journal, published at the Ohio State University from
1916 to 1925.
Ohioans have also made numerous
contributions to the Dic-
tionary of American Biography, edited by Allen Johnson and
Dumas Malone. It would be a difficult
task to list each Ohioan
who has aided in this work but the
following persons should be
mentioned: Benton, Bond, Carter,
Galbreath, Geiser, Hockett,
McGrane, Edwin William Pahlow, Pershing,
Smith, Charles
Franklin Thwing, Utter, Volwiler,
Siebert, Cole, Newton Diehl
Baker, Walter Gillan Clippinger, Harlow
Lindley, Roseboom,
Hirsch, Gilbert Hobbs Barnes, Alonzo
Hubert Tuttle, Weisen-
burger and Wittke.
Turning to the published volumes written
by Ohioans one
finds it well-nigh impossible to mention
all the historical works
contributed by citizens of the State
during the last half century.
Some of the most important,
nevertheless, should be suggested.
Artz is the author of France under
the Bourbon Restoration,
1814-1830 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1931), and Reaction and
Revolution, 1814-1832 (New York, 1934). Barnes of the Eco-
nomics Department of Ohio Wesleyan
University is the author of
The Anti-slavery Impulse, 1830-1844 (New York, 1933), and is
the editor (with Dwight Dumond of the
University of Michi-
gan) of the Letters of Theodore
Dwight Weld, Angelina Grimke
Weld, and Sarah Grimke,
1822-1844 (New York, 1935), 2v.
Benton is the author of The Wabash
Trade Route (Baltimore,
Maryland, 1903); International
Law and the Diplomacy of the
Spanish-American War (Baltimore, Maryland, 1908); Movement
for Peace without Victory during the
Civil War (Cleveland,
342
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND
HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
1918); and is joint author of
several history texts. Bond has
edited the Correspondence of John
Cleves Symmes (New York,
1926) and has written The Civilization of the Old Northwest
(New York, 1934). Henry Eldridge Bourne
has published The
Teaching of History and Civics (New York, 1902); History
of
Medieval and Modern Europe (New York, 1905); The Revolu-
tionary Period in Europe (New York, 1914); and (with Benton)
several American history texts. He also
edited an edition of
William Edward Hartpole Lecky's French
Revolution (New
York, 1904). Professor Francis
William Buckler, historian of
Oriental studies and a member of the
faculty of Oberlin School
of Theology since 1925, has written Harunu'l-Rashid
and Charles
the Great (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1931) and has contributed
to the Cambridge History of British
Foreign Policy, 1783-1919
(New York, 1922-23), 3v. Carter, who joined
the faculty of
Miami University in 1910, published
Great Britain and the Illi-
nois Country, 1763-1774 (Washington,
1910), which won the
Justin Winsor prize of 1908. Since that
time he has written,
with Clarence Walworth Alvord in the
Illinois State Historical
Library Collections (Springfield,
1903-), The Critical Period,
1763-1765 (1915);
The New Regime, 1765-1767 (1916), and
Trade and Politics, 1767-69 (1921). He has
recently edited The
Correspondence of General Thomas Gage
with the Secretaries of
State (New Haven, Connecticut, 1931-33), 2v., and is now en-
gaged in the editing of the Territorial
Papers of the United States
(Washington, 1934-) under grant of the
United States Govern-
ment. Cole wrote two well-esteemed
volumes before coming to
Ohio in 1920 and has since published The Irrepressible Conflict
(New York, 1934). Cox while at the
University of Cincinnati
published The Journeys of La Salle as
Related by H. de Tonty
and Others (New York, 1905), 2v., and The West Florida Con-
troversy, 1798-1813 (Baltimore, Maryland, 1918). Hasting Eells
of Ohio Wesleyan University is the
author of a life of Martin
Bucer, Reformation leader (New Haven, Connecticut, 1931) and
Europe Since 1500 (New
York, 1933). Vergilius Ture Anselm
Ferm of Wooster College has written The
Crisis in American
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 343
Lutheran Theology: a Study of the
Issue between American
Lutheranism and Old Lutheranism (New York, 1927). William
Franklin Gephart, now a St. Louis
banker, but a native Ohioan,
a graduate of Ohio State University, and
a member of the eco-
nomics faculty (1905-1913), published as
a Columbia University
Study (New York, 1909) his doctoral dissertation, Transporta-
tion and Industrial Development in
the Middle West. George
Andrews Hedger and others at the
University of Cincinnati have
written An Introduction to Western
Civilization (New York,
1933). Hirsch is the author of Huguenots
of Colonial South
Carolina (Durham, North Carolina, 1928). Hill has written Jose
de Escandon and the Founding of Nuevo
Santander (Columbus,
Ohio, 1926)--largely a product of his
previous residence in Cali-
fornia; and Diplomatic Relations
between the United States and
Brazil (Durham, North Carolina, 1932). Hockett
contributed a
chapter, "Federalism and the
West," to Essays in American His-
tory Dedicated to Frederick Jackson
Turner (New York, 1910).
He has also written Western
Influences on Political Parties to
1825 (Columbus, Ohio, 1917); A Political and
Social History of
the United States (New York, 1925) and a new edition, The Po-
litical and Social Growth of the
United States (New York, 1933),
and Introduction to Research in
American History (New York,
1931). George Frederick Howe has written
the first adequate
biography of Chester Alan Arthur
(mentioned below). John
Life La Monte of the University
of Cincinnati is the author of
Feudal Monarchy in the Latin Kingdom
of Jerusalem, 1100 to
1291 (Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1932). McGrane has edited
The Correspondence of Nicholas Biddle
(New York, 1919),
president of the Second Bank of the U.
S., and has written the
Panic of 1837 (Chicago, 1924) and a Life of William Allen (Co-
lumbus, Ohio, 1925). Edgar Holmes McNeal
of the Ohio State
University is the joint author with
Oliver Joseph Thatcher of
Europe in the Middle Age, new and revised edition (New York,
1920), and a Source Book for
Mediaeval History (New York,
1905). Jacob Conrad Meyer of Western
Reserve University is
the author of Church and State in
Massachusetts from 1740 to
344
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
1833: a Chapter in the History of the
Development of Individual
Freedom (Cleveland, 1930).
Arthur Herbert Noyes, late asso-
ciate professor at the Ohio State
University, was the author of
The Military Obligation in Mediaeval
England with Especial Ref-
erence to Commissions of Array (Columbus, Ohio, 1931) and
Europe--Its History and Its World
Relationships, 1789-1933
(Boston, 1934). He also cooperated with
Jonathan French Scott
of New York University and Albert Hyma
of the University of
Michigan in the issuing of Readings
in Medieval History (New
York, 1933). Pahlow of the College of
Education, Ohio State
University, has written Man's Great
Adventure, an Introduction
to World History (Boston, 1932). Howard Robinson, for many
years professor and dean at Miami
University and who joins
the faculty of the Ohio State University
in 1935, has written
A History of Great Britain (Boston, 1927) and Bayle the Sceptic
(New York, 1931). He also contributed a
study of "Bayle's
Profanation of Sacred History" to
the Essays in Intellectual His-
tory Dedicated to James Harvey
Robinson (New York, 1929).
Roseboom and Weisenburger have
cooperated in the production
of a History of Ohio (New York,
1934), the first single volume
history of the State to be written from
the viewpoint of modern
scholarship. Miss Clara Eve Schieber of
Ohio Northern Uni-
versity is the author of The
Transformation of American Senti-
ment toward Germany, 1870-1914
(Boston, 1923). Siebert has
written The Underground Railroad
from Slavery to Freedom
(New
York, 1898); The Government of Ohio (New York,
1904);
Report on the Collections of Materials in English and
European History . . . in the
Libraries of the U. S. (Washington,
1905); The Legacy of the American
Revolution to the British
West Indies and Bahamas (Columbus, Ohio, 1913); The Exodus
of the Loyalists from Penobscot to
Passamaquoddy (Columbus,
Ohio, 1914); The Loyalist Refugees of
New Hampshire (Colum-
bus, Ohio, I916); The
Loyalists of Pennsylvania (Columbus,
Ohio, 1920); Loyalists in East Florida, 1774-1785: I, Narrative,
II, Records of Their Claims for
Losses of Property in the Prov-
ince (De Land, Florida, 1929), 2V.; Ohio State University's
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 345
Share in the World War (in press). Henry Harrison Simms
who had previously written Rise of
the Whigs in Virginia (Rich-
mond, Virginia, 1929), since
coming to the faculty of the Ohio
State University in 1929, has become
the author of Life of John
Taylor: The Story of a Brilliant
Leader in the Early Virginia
State Rights School (Richmond, Virginia, 1932). Theodore
Clarke Smith, now of Williams College,
while an assistant pro-
fessor of history at the Ohio State University
(1901-1903), was
the author of "Political
Reconstruction" in Cambridge Modern
History (New York, 1902-11), VII (1903). William Warren
Sweet, while a member of the faculty of Ohio Wesleyan Uni-
versity (1911-1913), was the
author of The Methodist Episcopal
Church and the Civil War (Delaware, Ohio, 1912).
Professor
William Ernest Smith is the writer of
the much-esteemed Francis
Preston Blair Family in Politics (New York, 1933), 2v. Vol-
wiler has written George Croghan and
the Westward Movement
(Cleveland, 1926), a life of the noted
Indian trader, and has
made considerable progress on a
biography of President Benja-
min Harrison. George Adrian Washburne of
the Ohio State
University is the author of a volume in
the publications of Co-
lumbia University, Imperial Control
of the Administration of
Justice in the Thirteen American
Colonies, 1684-1776 (New
York, 1923). Wittke has shown a catholic interest in the his-
torical field in the publication of The
History of English Parlia-
mentary Privilege (Columbus, Ohio, 1921); History of Canada
(New York, 1928); and Tambo
and Bones: A History of the
American Minstrel Stage (Durham, North Carolina, 1930). In
1932 he lectured in Germany in
celebration of the bi-centennial
of the birth of Washington. These
lectures have been published
as George Washington Und Seine Zeit (Bremen-Leipzig,
1933).
Professor Harold Monk Vinacke of the
University of Cincinnati
has written a History of the Far East
in Modern Times (New
York, 1928). In the classical field,
Professor Allen Brown West
of the University of Cincinnati has
contributed The Athenian As-
sessment of 425 B. C. (Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1934) in collabo-
ration with Benjamin Dean Meritt.
346
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
The Ohio State University Press has
aided in the publication
of various historical works, some of
which, the work of the Ohio
State University faculty members, have
already been mentioned.
Others written by graduate students at
that University include
William Best Hesseltine, now of the
University of Wisconsin,
Civil War Prisons (Columbus, Ohio, 1930); Bartlett, John C.
Fremont and the Republican Party (Columbus, Ohio, 1930);
Ruth Loving Higgins, now dean of Beaver
College, Expansion
in New York with Especial Reference
to the Eighteenth Century
(Columbus, Ohio, 1931).
Ohio memoirs have offered a field for
writing to those who
have figured actively in the State's
history, to members of their
families, and to some of their
associates. Thus John Sherman,
long a Representative and Senator from
Ohio, wrote his Recollec-
tions of Forty Years (Akron, Ohio, 1895), 2v.; Senator Joseph
Benson Foraker attempted to justify his
own political actions in
Notes of a Busy Life (Cincinnati, Ohio, 1916), 2v.; and the lat-
ter's widow submitted her recollections
in I Would Live It Again
(New York, 1932). Brand Whitlock,
intimately associated for
years with Toledo municipal politics,
wrote Forty Years of It
(New York, 1914). Tom Loftin Johnson's
life work, especially
in relation to Cleveland, was discussed
in My Story (New York,
1911). The biography of one who
had much to do with the first
settlement of Ohio, though he never
settled in the region, was
written by his Ohio grandchildren,
William Parker and Julia
Perkins Cutler, in The Life, Journals
and Correspondence of Rev.
Manasseh Cutler (Cincinnati, Ohio, 1888), 2v. Julia Perkins
Cutler also contributed a life of her
father who was a member of
Ohio's first constitutional convention
in Life and Times of Eph-
riam Cutler (Cincinnati, 1890). Another volume of interest for
the early settlement of the State is
Mary Cone, Life of Rufus
Putnam (Cleveland, 1886). David Meade Massie of Chillicothe
told the story of the life of his
grandfather, the founder of that
city, in Nathaniel Massie, a Pioneer
of Ohio (Cincinnati, 1896).
William Edward Gilmore wrote a biography
of the first governor
of the State, Life of Edward Tiffin (Chillicothe,
Ohio, 1897).
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 347
The career of one of the ablest business
and political leaders in
the Ohio of a century ago is discussed
by his son-in-law in James
Lawrence Bates, Alfred Kelley, His
Life and Work (Columbus,
Ohio, 1888). Lowry F. Sater of Columbus,
long an active and
intelligent leader in Democratic
circles, has given a sketch of the
life of an able governor of the State in
James Edwin Campbell, a
Contemporary Political Study (Columbus, Ohio, 1932). Herbert
Smith Duffy, a young Ohio lawyer and
politician, has written of
the career of President Taft in William
Howard Taft (New
York, 1930).
Allen O. Myers, a journalist of long
experience in the State,
has left a rather sensational
presentation of certain aspects of
Ohio politics in Bosses and Boodle (Cincinnati,
1895). Wash-
ington Gladden, for many years a leading
clergyman and civic
leader of Columbus, left pertinent
comments on the history of
the period in his Recollections (Boston,
1909).
In more specialized fields Ohioans have
given accounts of
the course of the State's history. The
evolution of the land
system of Ohio is told by William
Edwards Peters in Ohio Lands
(Athens, Ohio, 1918), and by Professor
Christopher Elias Sher-
man of the Engineering College of the
Ohio State University in
Original Land Subdivisions (Columbus, Ohio, 1925). Farming
in Ohio is dealt with by William Allison
Lloyd, John Ironside
Falconer and Charles Embree Thorne in The
Agriculture of Ohio
(Wooster, Ohio, 1918).
Local religious history is dealt with by
John Marshall Barker
in History of Ohio Methodism (New
York, 1898) and by Joseph
Beatty Doyle in The [Episcopal] Church
in Eastern Ohio (Steu-
benville, Ohio, 1914). A group of
northern Ohio ministers pre-
sented interesting material in Ohio
Church Society Papers (Ober-
lin, Ohio, 1889-1900), IIV.
William Henry Venable made a distinct
contribution to the
understanding of literary history in
Ohio in his Beginnings of
Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley (Cincinnati, 1891), and his
son Emerson Venable has made a further
contribution in his
Poets of Ohio (Cincinnati, 1909). Mrs. Edna Maria Clark of
348
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
Columbus has made a study of Ohio Art
and Artists (Richmond,
Virginia, 1932). Osman Castle
Hooper, long an active news-
paperman and professor of journalism at
the Ohio State Univer-
sity, has published a creditable volume,
History of Ohio Journal-
ism (Columbus, Ohio, 1933). James Jesse Burns's Educational
History of Ohio (Columbus, Ohio, 1905) was in many respects
a pioneer work in the field but
possesses defects often found in
volumes that precede the researches of
specialized scholars.
Thwing in a less local study of
collegiate education in the
United States has given A History of
Higher Education in Amer-
ica (New York, 1906), as viewed through his own
vantage-point
as president of Western Reserve
University.
Many writers in the field of Ohio and
western history have
nurtured their interest while residents
of the State but only ac-
quired the leisure and opportunities for
historiography after
removing from the State. Thus Charles
Augustus Hanna, whose
The Wilderness Trail (New York, 1911),, 2v.,
is valuable for the
early years of the Old Northwest, was a
native of Cadiz but did
his writing as a resident of New York
City. Consul Willshire
Butterfield, who delved into problems of
the colonial and Indian
periods and wrote a number of volumes
such as The History of
the Girtys (Cincinnati, 1890), was a school superintendent and
lawyer in Ohio but the period of his
authorship is connected with
his residence in Nebraska. In the field
of biography Albert
Gallatin Riddle received recognition for
his Life of . . . Benjamin
F. Wade (Cleveland, 1886), but although he was for many years
a well-known Cleveland lawyer and
politician, his writings were
produced after he had located in
Washington, D. C. Thomas
Boyd was a native of Defiance and was a
high school student
there shortly before enlisting in the
World War, but his popular
yet reliable biographies, Simon
Girty, the White Savage (New
York, 1928) and Mad Anthony Wayne (New York, 1929) were
written during his residence in the
East. Robert Emmet Chad-
dock, whose doctorial dissertation Ohio
before 1850, a Study of
the Early Influence of Pennsylvania
and Southern Populations in
Ohio, Volume XXXI of the Columbia University Studies in
His-
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 349
tory, Economics, and Public Law (New York, 1908), was one of
the earliest scholarly studies of Ohio's
history, as judged by mod-
ern standards, is a native of Ohio. He
is also a graduate and
one-time faculty member at the College
of Wooster, but like
others that have been mentioned his
reputation as a writer has
been achieved outside of the State.
Many Ohioans, however, who have
continued to live in the
State have made studies of localities within
its boundaries. From
these productions it is impossible to
select particular ones for
special mention without seeming to be
unjust to others. Among
Cincinnatians who have contributed to an
understanding of their
city's history, however, are Charles Theodore
Greve, in Centennial
History of Cincinnati and
Representative Citizens (Chicago,
1904), 2v., and
Charles Frederic Goss in Cincinnati, the Queen
City (Cincinnati, 1912), 4v. Other works of merit that
Ohioans
have written about their cherished
localities are James Harrison
Kennedy, A History of the City of
Cleveland (Cleveland, 1896);
Samuel Peter Orth, A
History of Cleveland, Ohio (Chicago,
1910), 3v.; Alfred Mathews, Ohio and
Her Western Reserve
(New York, 1902); Alfred Emory Lee, History of the City of
Columbus (New York, 1892), 2v.; Henry Bushnell, The History
of Granville, Licking County, Ohio (Columbus, Ohio, 1889); and
Nevin Otto Winter, A History of
Northwest Ohio (Chicago,
1917), 3v.
In dealing with the history of the State
as a whole, Rufus
King of Cincinnati, a grandson of the
earlier New York states-
man of the same name and a man of
considerable eminence in his
own right, published a small volume in
the American Common-
wealths series, Ohio; First Fruits of the Ordinance of 1787 (Bos-
ton, 1888). Almost a quarter of a
century later Randall and
Ryan of Columbus published their History
of Ohio (New York,
1912), 5v., which embodied the results
of much careful study but
placed relatively little emphasis on the
period since the Civil War.
Then a decade ago, Galbreath
issued his History of Ohio (New
York, 1925), 5v., which hardly added to
the author's "creditable
record" in Ohio historiography. Two
assistant professors of his-
350
OHIO ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL
QUARTERLY
tory (of whom the present author is one)
have recently published
a single volume work of the State's
history.
In concluding this paper, it may be said
with emphasis that
historiography in Ohio has made decided
progress during the last
decade and a half. When the well-known American
Nation series
was produced thirty years ago Edwin Erle
Sparks, a native of
Ohio, who had received both his
bachelor's and master's degrees
from the Ohio State University but had
long before removed
from the State, contributed the volume
on National Development,
1877-1885 (New York, 1907). To Edward Gaylord Bourne and
Theodore Clarke Smith who had earlier
taught in Ohio, the for-
mer at Western Reserve University and
the latter at Ohio State
University, were intrusted Spain in
America, 1450-1580 (New
York, 1904), and Parties and Slavery,
1850-1859 (New York,
1906), respectively. No resident of
Ohio, however, contributed
a single one of the twenty-eight
volumes, though persons in Mich-
igan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Illinois,
and Pennsylvania shared in
the task. Similarly when the Chronicles
of America series was
projected by the Yale University Press
under the editorship of
Allen Johnson of that University to give
"a new interpretation
of American History," the writing
of only one of the fifty was
intrusted to an Ohioan; and he, Hulbert,
author of Paths of In-
land Commerce (New Haven, Connecticut, 1919), left the State
before its publication.46
At the present time, however, in the
much smaller (about
twenty volume) series, American
Political Leaders, George Fred-
erick Howe has written Chester A.
Arthur, A Quarter Century of
Machine Politics (New York, 1934). Incidentally another vol-
ume, James A. Garfield, Party
Chieftain (New York, 1931), is
the product of the pen of Robert
Granville Caldwell, a graduate
of the College of Wooster (and now
minister to Portugal), and
of the volumes yet to be published,
Hesseltine is to write Ulysses
S. Grant, and Robert M. La Follette is to owe authorship
to
46 The authors of several other volumes,
Nathaniel Wright Stephenson and
Samuel Peter Orth, had lived earlier in
Ohio for many years. The former was a
native of Cincinnati and was an
editorial writer in that city during the 'nineties; the
latter had been an Akron College professor and
Cleveland attorney (1897-1912).
WRITING OF HISTORY IN OHIO 351
Frederic Clemson Howe, for many years a
public-spirited lawyer
of Cleveland and one-time member of the
Ohio Senate.
In the History of American Life, a
small series now in
process of publication (12 volumes) and
devoted especially to
economic and social aspects, Cole
has contributed The Irrepres-
sible Conflict, 1850-1865. Incidentally another volume of the se-
ries is written by Schlesinger, now
professor at Harvard Uni-
versity, a native of Xenia, Ohio, a
graduate and former faculty
member of the Ohio State University. How
much of his interest
in historiography was acquired in Ohio
is problematical, but one
of his published works is dedicated
"in gratitude" to Knight, one
of his early teachers at the Ohio State
University.
Turning to European history, of the
twenty volumes contem-
plated in the Rise of Modern Europe series
under the editorship
of Professor William Leonard Langer of
Harvard, three are
assigned to professors in Ohio
institutions of higher learning.
One, Artz, Reaction and Revolution,
1814-1832, is already pub-
lished. Other volumes tentatively
entitled Dynastic Politics and
Colonial Enterprise, 1740-1763, and The Triumph of Nationalism,
1852-1871, are being prepared by Walter L. Dorn of the Ohio
State University and Robert Cedric
Binkley of Western Reserve
University respectively.
Historiography, moreover, as seen
through the efforts of the
Ohio State Archaeological and Historical
Society, is in a position
that is in some respects very
encouraging. Current matters of
interest relating to the Society's work
are recorded in the monthly
news-letter, Museum Echoes, a
relatively recent innovation. The
QUARTERLY, official periodical of the
Society, underwent (begin-
ning with the January, 1935, issue) a
change in physical make-up
which is an outward and visible sign of
the enhanced quality of
the scholarly historical articles that
may be expected under the
direction of Lindley, the editor, and
his board of associates. The
longer studies, published from time to
time as volumes in the
Ohio Historical Collections, included, previous to this year, Holt's
Party Politics in Ohio, 1840-1850 (Columbus, Ohio, 1930), and
Donnal Vore Smith's Salmon P. Chase
and Civil War Politics
352
OHIO ARCH AEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
(Columbus, Ohio, 1931). Within the last
few weeks, however,
two additional volumes have been issued,
Downes, Frontier Ohio,
1788-1803 (Columbus, Ohio, 1935), and Robert Hamilton Bishop
(Columbus, Ohio, 1935), life of the
first president of Miami
University, by James Howard Rodabaugh, a
graduate student at
the Ohio State University.
Historians interested in Ohio history
have prepared other
meritorious studies which await the
prospect of publication.
Newspaper collections such as the
unrivalled files of Ohio publi-
cations in the Society's Library;
manuscript collections such as
those under Overman's supervision in the
Society's possession
and those in the Hayes Library at
Fremont, the Western Reserve
Historical Society Library at Cleveland,
and the Ohio Historical
and Philosophical Society Collection at
Cincinnati--all these and
others beckon to the Ohio historian.
Proper financial support for
the Ohio State Archaeological and
Historical Society's publishing
opportunities would usher in a veritable
rebirth of enthusiasm
for the writing of the State's history.
Surely a Commonwealth
which in 1938 will observe the
sesquicentennial of the founding
of its first organized permanent
settlement should be mature
enough to support such a program. To
seek to guide the future
by an adequate understanding of the
years that lie behind would
seem to be merely a wise and prudent
course!
A HALF CENTURY OF THE WRITING OF HISTORY
IN OHIO
By FRANCIS
P. WEISENBURGER
Slightly more than a century ago Mrs.
Frances Trollope
returned to her home in England after
two years of residence in
Cincinnati. Thereupon she published her Domestic
Manners of
the Americans,l a somewhat ironical commentary upon life in
the United States. Thus she became one
of the earliest represen-
tatives of a ubiquitous tribe of
Europeans that from time to time
has contrasted the culture of Europe
with that of America and
has found the latter wanting--or perhaps
non-existent. She
pointed to the crudities of the
Americans--their boastfulness,
their lack of refinement, and their
emphasis upon material values.
After dealing specifically with the
situation in Cincinnati she
generalized as to the taste for
intellectual fare in America as a
whole:
In truth there are many reasons which
render a very general diffusion
of literature impossible in America. I
can scarcely class the universal read-
ing of newspapers as an exception to
this remark; if I could, my statement
would be exactly the reverse, and I
should say that America beat the world
in letters. The fact is, that throughout
all ranks of society, from the
successful merchant, which is the highest,
to the domestic serving man,
which is the lowest, they are all too
actively employed to read, except at
such broken intervals as may suffice for
a peep at a newspaper.2
Mrs. Trollope's business failure in
Cincinnati may have con-
tributed a note of vindictiveness to her
impressions of the Ameri-
can scene, but no candid student of the
period would now find
reason to challenge the essential truth
in much that she said. The
careful observer of social tendencies
must of course often experi-
ence a feeling of stark amazement at the
glib generalizations that
are frequently formulated concerning a
people so complex as the
American. In a crude and materialistic
generation there have
always been individuals who have
thirsted for more beautiful,
1 Mrs. Frances Trollope, Domestic
Manners of the Americans (London, 1832), 2v.
2 Ibid.,
I, 128.
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